Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction combined to partial knee replacement in active patients with ACL deficiency and knee osteoarthritis

Objectives: To report, through a systematic review of the literature, the clinical and radiographic outcomes of unicompartmental knee replacement (UKR) combined to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. It was hypothesized that this combined technique is a safe and effective procedure providing satisfactory post-operative functional outcomes. Methods: A systematic review was performed by searching Pubmed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, SCOPUS, Embase and Ovid. Only studies in English pertaining all levels of evidence reporting on subjects with medial osteoarthritis and ACL deficiency undergoing UKR combined to ACL reconstruction were considered. Review articles and expert opinion or editorial pieces were excluded. Outcomes of interest included indications, clinical assessment including activity level, associated procedures, rate of complications such as revision surgery Results: Overall, 9 studies met all the inclusion criteria for this review. All were published between 2006 and 2019. The search resulted in one comparative case series (Level III), four prospective cohort studies (Level III) and four case series (Level IV). From these studies, 249 patients were identified. Conclusions: The combination of UKR and ACL reconstruction appears a safe and effective procedure providing satisfying outcomes and limited complications in selected patients with medial OA and ACL insufficiency. Further comparative studies reporting long-term outcomes are needed, as high-level studies on this topic are lacking.